#keisei

[mikunology]

Mikunology Reviews #2: NX STARS (2022)

Alright, here is my second review! Today, I'm reviewing something much more recent and kind of obscure depending on your circles...the album NX STARS created by VOCALOEDM circle NEXTLIGHT!

Uh, so, like I said, I wanted to review mostly albums I'm interested in (someone did give me a suggestion I might follow up on though) and as a big EDM listener and a fan of several of the DJs in NEXTLIGHT, I figured I'd give the NX series some spotlight. I'd like to review some of NEXTLIGHT's other projects as well in the future. But anyways, let's get on it!

Star Theory - We start off the album with a song from Reno! This song is a bright, poppy electropop track, fitting to the album's star concept. I have to say, it's a good start: the song has a strong dazzling air about it, complemented by Miku's vivid and cute vocals. It definitely has this "sparkling" vibe with the way the synths are used, and it does a good job at getting you ready and excited for what's ahead. Pretty good!

Sono Koe wa Kagami no Gotoku (That Voice That's Like a Mirror) - OK, not gonna lie, this is probably my favorite track on the album and we're only on #2! I'm admittedly kinda late on hopping on the keisei fan train - I wasn't a big fan of "Singularity", to be honest. But this song is wonderful: the song's guitar and piano and the almost "soaring" feeling of the music is incredibly refreshing and addicting. Not to mention, this song uses Miku NT fantastically - she sounds nearly indistinguishable from V4, minus some light engine noise. I don't know how keisei does it.

Tenbinzu no Principal (Libra's Principal) - A dazzling pop/future bass track courtesy of colate! I don't think I liked this one overly much upon first listen, but relistening to it has made me like it a bit more. Like Star Theory, it has this very "sparkly" and "magical" feel to it, between the twinkling synths, dashes of violin and light, clean future bass drops. Still, I think this one is a bit on the forgettable side compared to the previous two tracks.

Candy Load - emon my beloved!! A sort of guest on part of NEXTLIGHT, he brings his typical fun and fresh pop to the album. It feels a slight bit different from his usual stuff, so to speak: Miku's vocals (which are provided by Miku Sweet) feel more subdued than usual, and it has some more chill parts to it. But, it is a good track! The chorus is as funky and catchy as only emon can bring, and I can easily have a good bop to it. If you like "Metamo-Ribbon", for instance, I think you're easily gonna love this one. Probably one of the more stand-out tracks.

Kashimashi Bischet - A new track provided by Twinfield! However, unfortunately…I kinda feel lukewarm on this one. Don't get me wrong, it is a fun track, but I feel like it has trouble standing out, with the only part that really got my attention being the drop before the final chorus - it leads into this really cool and fun-sounding instrumental section, and it makes the following chorus feel a lot more fun as a result! Basically, the song feels a bit like it takes too long to "get good". But eh, I'll give it a 5/10.

Magical Shiny Sky - This track is provided by picco, aka the current queen of Vocaloid future bass XD I have to say, though, this track is pretty good! I feel like during my first listen of this album, I didn't give it too much credit, but I think it's pretty cool. It has a great beat to it and it grabs you from the get-go, and it keeps that fun, jumping quality going through the whole thing. And again, this song has the signature "sparkly" element most of the album has been keeping! It feels pretty satisfying as a future bass track.

Ride the Light - This song is written by Capchii! This has a somewhat harder beat to it, making it kind of unique since this album has mostly been light electropop. However, I don't think I'm super keen on this track: the music itself is good, with the harder electropop beat working for it well and having a fairly catchy hook, but I'm kinda…lukewarm on Miku's vocals? I think Capchii uses her well on average, but she sounds kinda underwhelming on this track and it makes the song kinda so-so.

Ryuusei Empathy (Meteor Empathy) - This next track is by another "guest", Buono! This one is hard to describe…I can't name any traits from it that the other tracks on this album don't adhere to? This one has a sorta funky chorus, almost emon-like, but despite listening to it a few times I find this one mostly forgettable. Sorry, Buono :'D

Your Wish - A second track created by Reno! This one is good - admittedly not as strong as Star Theory, in my opinion, but with a nice uplifting and bopping vibe to it. I'm growing more and more fond of their way of tuning Miku as well :D The way she sings "Your wish come true" at the end of the chorus is super satisfying and definitely instilled a Feeling™ in me. High rec this one!

Outer Shelter's - Finally, our last track is brought about by Adomiori! This one is actually rather chill compared to the rest of the CD - it's more slow and emotional rather than perky and bouncy, but it still keeps the happy theme of the album. I really like it, actually?? The way Miku sings in this one is very nice, and I love the vibes here - it really gives that sort of "floating in space" feeling. The melody both for the vocals and the drop is great. It feels like a very suitable final track to end off such a starry tracklist.

And that's it! Overall, I'd say this album is pretty good - even if I say a song is sorta mid, I can't necessarily say any of them are absolutely worth skipping (i.e. really bad), and most of the tracks are very enjoyable. If you enjoy electropop or future bass when it comes to VOCALOID, I think you will enjoy most if not all of NX STARS. I highly encourage you to check out NEXTLIGHT if this album seems up your alley!

I'm thinking next week, I could cover my favorite from the NX series, NX ENCHANT, but idk, maybe I'll do something else instead. I hope you enjoyed my review ;v;

[japanese-cryptic-beauty]

Phonetic composition for Wanikani

Remember how I mentioned the book "The Kanji Code" in my lengthy article about on'yomi ("Chinese") readings of kanji?

Turns out the benefits of the book can be had for Wanikani users through the magic of "userscript."

What's the benefit

So, phonetic composition is how a great many of the kanji you're (supposedly) trying to learn are made. These particular kanji are called 形声 or "keisei" - "form-voice" kanji.

For the "form," they contain a part (often referred to as "radical") that gives you the meaning/semantic category of the kanji, like what the concept is mentally filed under.

For the "voice," they contain another part that hints you at how they are pronounced. It is commonly believed that kanji are only pictorials linked to concepts, but for keisei kanji this is not the case. A big part may not pertain to the meaning at all. Spotting the "voice" part can help you recall the on'yomi sounds of kanji much easier and systematically.

Yes, this is specifically for the "Chinese" readings. The Japanese readings are words from a language that had nothing to do with the formation of the original hanzi script, after all.

(Examples are in the original article.)

How it works

Websites are rendered by your browser, but how your browser does this can be extended and changed by scripts that rely on the Javascript language. Nowadays browsers like Chrome or Firefox allow you to install "extensions" that do various jobs for you - blocking ads, returning the ability to copy/paste to pages that block it, etc.

Wanikani, the kanji-learning website, incorporated early on support for so-called userscripts, both a blessing and a curse. Curse because whenever they want to change something on the website, a very vocal userscript culture will complain about breaking their stuff. Blessing because it allows you to extend what WK can do.

How it's done

You can basically follow the guide here, but I must admit I failed to do so because I think something's missing.

What you do is this:

Install Tampermonkey (guide) - this is the basic engine.

Install WK Open Framework (guide) - this is Wanikani's own script support.

Install Keisei support (guide)

Now, if this worked, you should see something like this on various pages - for kanji readings and radicals:

This will tell you if a phonetic component is present in your kanji or if it is itself present in another kanji as a phonetic component. The readings printed in bold are readings still used for that kanji, others listed are merely present in phonetic components but not in the original kanji. Because history.

It also shows you cases where the link is weakened because the pronunciation changed - in the example you see this marked in red. Basically there is a grading system (so far I've seen "heaven", "above", "middle", and "below").

A Caveat

There's only one caveat. Tampermonkey is very powerful. You need to trust the scripts you install, because it could potentially alter what you see on websites or enter/submit stuff for you.

On Chrome there is a good solution for this. When you click on the "Extensions" icon in the top right, you can select "This can read and change site data" from the three dots behind Tampermonkey.

I recommend doing it like this:

Select "On all Sites" during the installing of the WK Open Framework and the "Keisei" support script. (Else the install links have a habit of not working on Chrome.)

Then change it back to "When you click the extension".

Now go back to a tab with Wanikani open. Go back to "Extensions -> This can read and change site data" and select "On wanikani.com".

Congrats! Now Tampermonkey is only enabled on Wanikani by default.

Alternatively, use it in a separate browser. I haven't found an easy way to restrict permissions on Firefox, for example. But if you use it in a separate browser that you only use for Wanikani, you should be good.

Kanpai to the people who made this possible!!

[vocaloidsongpoll]

do you like this vocaloid song?

(composed by keisei)

submitted by @zero-on-the-clocktower! thank you so much!!!

[chioexe]

[ramen-tokyo]

蘭州（Ranshu）「羊ラー麺」

✔️Store name / Menu

✔️Side Menu : 水餃子、香菜

✔️Nearest : 京成立石駅

[seigibathala]

Got my merch from Ikkou Keisei Arc!

[cogiimyunna]

when one of ur fav vocaloid songs is so underrated you cant even find lyrics

[signfromgod-avatars]

kawahara keisei (400x640).

credit; signfromgod.

galerie (23 avatars)

[minluvly]

A PUPPY?!?!!!! WHERE WHAT BREED WHAT'S THE NAME AAAAAAA PUPPY!!!!

His name is Kim Seungmin lol

No but fr her name is Yuna and she's a Frenchie the derp breed LOL Imagine me singing "Yuna's so derpy why are you such a derp" in the tone of the Lion King holding her like Simba lol

Here she isssss

[nmotypdfsfg]

[minluvly]

@starlostseungmin @starseungs ay sorry na tag ko kayo

SEUNGMIN / SKZ TALKER EP. 64 REQUESTED BY ANON 🖤

[genkinahito]

Hey Handsome. Kuchinai Sakura, Kyuu Juu-sai. Nani ga medetai, Shin Sancha no Poltergeist, Gintama on Theater 2D: Ikkoku Keisei-hen, Omuro-ke dear friends, Japanese Film Trailers

Welcome to the first of two trailer posts this week Only 12 films this week, so come back tomorrow of the second post The Japanese Film Festival Online has finished its first phase, in which 27 films were available, and I watched nine films and enjoyed them. I used the films partially as Japanese-language practice since I am trying to up immersion time in hearing the language spoken. My thanks…

[heejinsoulyves]

I need everyone to watch Keisei Tominaga sink 3 pointers like it's easier than breathing

[chaddavisphotography]

Keisei Line, Tokyo Japan

[ramen-tokyo]

麺心 國もと（Kunimoto）「塩ちゃーしゅーめん」

✔️Store name / Menu

✔️Nearest : 京成高砂駅

[enbyboiwonder]

「行かないよ……清陰以外になんて」

Crap! This is worse than if I didn’t already know Chika’d be going to Keisei! Last subchapter was called HEADHUNTER, this one’s BATON PASS, what is this! I didn’t expect to be feeling this way today